Work it Mama!

3 minute read

So, I recently became a father and I must admit – almost all the heavy lifting of raising our child is done by my wife. I guess it is for good reason that governments the world over have mandated maternity breaks ranging from three months to a year. The sad truth, however, is that despite the maternity benefits accorded by the government and many organizations, many women still feel compelled to leave the workforce due to the lingering guilt of not spending adequate time nurturing their children. A recent Harvard study tried to find out whether this guilt was valid.

The researchers studied data on 100,000 men and women across 29 countries to understand whether children of working mothers suffered on key happiness and development parameters compared to their peers raised by stay-at-home mothers.

The findings of the study were quite eye-opening. The data revealed that daughters of working mothers are 1.21 times more likely to be employed compared to daughters of stay-at-home moms. They also found that daughters of working mothers are 1.29 times more likely to supervise others, and even have higher annual earnings.

When it came to sons of working mothers, the data didn’t suggest significant differences in work-related outcomes compared to sons of mothers who stayed home, however the research did suggest that sons of working mothers tended to choose wives who were employed and had a more progressive attitude towards gender diversity in the workplace.

Another very interesting finding from this study suggested that both sons and daughters of working mothers tend to study more than their peers from stay-at-home mothers.

Finally, when the adult children of working mothers were asked about their overall life satisfaction, their answers indicated that they were just as happy as their peers who were raised by stay-at-home mothers.

I really hope this study helps ease the guilt so many working mothers face when returning to their jobs, knowing well and good that not only will their children grow up equally happy as if they stayed at home, they may even thrive on some career and employment related outcomes.

Original research by Kathleen McGinn

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/kids-of-working-moms-grow-into-happy-adults